Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool have agreed a British record transfer fee in the region of £110 million for Moises Caicedo as Jurgen Klopp attempts to reinforce his midfield on the eve of the new Premier League season.
The PA news agency understands Liverpool have swooped in and had a substantial offer accepted for the 21-year-old Ecuador international, who was attracting significant interest from Chelsea this summer.
Brighton held firm on their valuation of a player who joined them for just £4 million from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle in 2021 – and it remains to be seen whether Chelsea will match Liverpool’s bid.
The fee is upwards of the previous British record of £107 million that Chelsea paid for Enzo Fernandez in January and dwarfs Liverpool’s own highest transfer payment of £75 million for Virgil van Dijk in 2018.
Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita and James Milner have all left Liverpool this summer, with Milner joining Brighton, and the Reds signed Caicedo’s former Brighton team-mate Alexis Mac Allister for £35 million in June.
They also brought in Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig but after missing out on Jude Bellingham – who joined Real Madrid in June in a deal that could rise to £115 million with add-ons – Klopp is keen to get the Caicedo transfer over the line.
Before the trip to Chelsea on Sunday for the opening round of Premier League fixtures, Klopp said: “I can confirm the deal with (Brighton) is agreed, whatever that means, because we want the player and not any kind of agreement. We will see.
“We are club that doesn’t have endless resources. We didn’t expect a couple of things happening in the summer, like Henderson and Fabinho (leaving), stuff like this.
“We didn’t think about that before the summer, to be honest, and then it happened. We gave (attempting to sign Bellingham) a go and the club was really stretched. We will see (what happens with Caicedo).”
As for whether Caicedo will undergo a medical in Merseyside today (Friday 11 August) or if signing the youngster would be Liverpool’s final business of the summer window, Klopp was tight-lipped.
He said: “I’ve said what I know. Let’s do it step by step. Let’s see what happens in the next hours or days.”
Klopp, whose side missed out on Champions League qualification after finishing fifth last season, was reminded of his critical comments on paying nine-figure sums for players six years ago.
After Manchester United signed Paul Pogba for a then-world record £89 million, Klopp said: “If you bring one player in for £100 million and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney. The day that this is football, I’m not in a job any more because the game is about playing together.”
However, Klopp accepted that he was mistaken for questioning the wisdom of such fees today and admitted prices for players will only increase with Saudi Arabia muscling in as a rival to Europe’s top leagues.
Klopp said: “Everything changed. Do I like it? But did I realise I was wrong? Definitely. That’s the way it goes. It will not go the other way around again. Saudi Arabia will not help with that.
“I’m not blaming anybody. It’s just the market with a lot of money.
“In the end, we as a club have just to try to make sure that with our resources, we get the best possible team together. We really try everything to get the best squad for us.
“We are not in a dreamland so we can’t just point on players and bring them in. There’s a lot of work to do these kinds of things. Sometimes one door closes then the other door opens up.
“If people want to throw my quotes from five or six years ago, absolutely no problem. I realise now I was wrong. It’s easy to admit that.”
